Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Das Lied der Liebe” From Leipzig
You know it’s Korngold alright from the very first bars: it’s an explosion of sound, hyper-intense like the opening of
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Operetta and Modernity: A New Book By Ethel Matala de Mazza
When I first heard of this book I got really excited: the famous S. Fischer publishing house would release a
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“Höfisch ist das Menuett, höflich die Gavotte”
Eine der bekanntesten und weit verbreiteten Gavotten ist die „Stephanie-Gavotte“, op. 312 von Alfons Czibulka. Diese wurde 1880 der Prinzessin
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“Lächeln trotz Weh und tausend Schmerzen”: Franz Lehárs Rundfunkaufnahmen im Dritten Reich
Yes, they are very famous and widely known: Lehár’s operettas as recorded by the Nazis, often with stellar casts, offering
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Racism In Operetta? An Overdue Debate About “Land des Lächelns” & Co.
Recently, a review of a new Land des Lächelns production by Guy Montavon at Oper Wuppertal sparked a debate about
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‘Authentic’ Operetta Productions At Ohio Light Opera? Plus A Festival Symposium
Enterprising Ohio Light Opera, ever devoted to ‘authentic’ productions from the world of musical comedy and operetta, seems to go
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Team Spirit, The Importance Of Good Looks, And Singing Tauber Roles: A Conversation With Tenor Maximilian Mayer
If you’re following the Operetta Research Center news feeds you will have heard of tenor Maximilian Mayer before: he was
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Andreas Homoki’s “Land des Lächelns” From Zurich: Starring Piotr Beczala
Everyone knows that Lehár had a not-so-secret longing for the ‘grand operatic’ and devoted the latter part of his long
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A Critical Quotebook: Marion Linhardt’s “Stimmen zur Unterhaltung” Revisited
This is one of those publications that should have made a big splash – but didn’t. Back in 2009, Marion
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Alberto Spadolini: The Nude Spy & Dancer From “Die lustige Witwe” 1940
We recently ran an article on “Operetta in the Third Reich,” reporting on the new book of the same title
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Barbara Denscher: Der Operettenlibrettist Victor Léon
Victor Léon (1858-1940) hat im Lauf seiner mehr als fünfzigjährigen Theater-Karriere über hundert Bühnenstücke geschrieben, knapp die Hälfte davon wird
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Gaiety, Glitz & Glamour: Reawakening the “Silver Age” of 20th Century Operetta
Last weekend, the Royal Musical Association devoted one of its study days to what has controversially been described as the
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Barbara Denscher’s Victor Léon Biography & Matthias Kauffmann’s “Operette im Dritten Reich”
Has operetta research shifted gear? One could think so, considering that there are finally in-depth academic studies coming out that
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How Do You Solve A Problem Like “Saison in Salzburg”? The New Production In Ischl
The Lehár Festival in Ischl just presented a new production of Fred Raymond’s Saison in Salzburg – as a colorful
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Lehár’s “Der Graf von Luxemburg”: Live-Recording From Frankfurt With Amazing Conductor
Early Lehár operetta seems to be en vogue this season, on record at least. Here is a new release on
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Daring To Be Different: Lehár’s “Die Juxheirat” On CPO
Viennese operetta at the beginning of the 20th century was a genre in transition, claims Stefan Frey in an essay
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Lehár’s New “Graf von Luxemburg” On OEHMS Classics
If you grew up as a kid in Germany, you probably learned early from a famous TV program to always
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First Modern Recording of Franz Lehár’s Feminist “Die Juxheirat”
Julius Bauer (1854-1941) was, like many Viennese operetta librettists, a highly cultured and witty man. He studied medicine and then
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Re-Visiting The Villas Of Bad Ischl: Marie-Theres Arnbom’s New Book
Anyone who is even remotely interested in the history of German language operetta knows that Bad Ischl – a kind
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An Overdose Of Nostalgia: The Arthaus TV Operetta Series
Can this really be happening, is Arthaus-Unitel seriously re-issuing all of these old TV operetta adaptations from the early 1970s
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Viennese Operetta Gems 1927-1949: A Classic Naxos Compilation
Any operetta compilation that starts with Charles Kullmann singing “Als flotter Geist, doch früh verwaist” like this has my immediate
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Lehár’s “Der Graf von Luxemburg” In Duisburg: With Barihunk Bo Skovhus
I can think of only two reasons for visiting the post-industrial city of Duisburg: firstly to hear the gorgeously expressive
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Dostal’s “Ungarische Hochzeit” (1939): First Complete Recording Of “Lebensraum” Operetta
Here is a new and first complete recording of Nico Dostal’s 1939 operetta Ungarische Hochzeit – premiered at the opera
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“An Autumn Trilogy”: The Budapest Operetta Theater In Ravenna
Ravenna in Northern Italy is famous for many things: it was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402
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Grand Opening: The New Emmerich Kálmán Theátrum In Budapest
For their 2016/17 season, the Budapest Operetta Theater (BOT) has some surprises in store. They might have opened the season
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Erich von Stroheim’s “The Merry Widow” At The Staatsoperette Dresden
Some years ago I was asked by the former Dutch Film Museum (renamed Eye Film Institute today) to accompany The
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Shifts At The Top: German Theater Statistics
The statistics are out for the number of musical theater performances in Germany during the 2014/15 season. They were published
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International Operetta Singing Competition of Franz Lehár
Not too long ago, Berlin’s operetta pioneer Barrie Kosky stated in the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, that he considers the performers of
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Lehár’s “Giuditta” With Christiane Libor On cpo
Giuditta spielt in Süditalien und Libyen. Aktueller können Orte von Handlungen nicht sein. Mit einen gewichtigen Unterschied zur Gegenwart. Damals
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GIUDITTA: Musical play in 5 scenes by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner-Beda. Music by Franz Lehár
Giuditta was the last of the series of darkly coloured romantic operettas (this one purposely titled ‘musikalische Komödie’) composed by
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Lehár’s “Giuditta”: A New Recording From Munich With Ulf Schirmer
There are many reasons why one can fall head-over-heels for Lehar’s “musikalische Komödie” Giuditta, first produced in January 1934 at
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“Operette: hipp oder miefig?” The New Issue Of The Österreichische Musikzeitschrift
It doesn’t happen too often that a musicological magazine dedicates an entire issue to “operetta”: with eight short essays dealing
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Summer Operetta Season In Baden: “Frasquita” And “Dreimäderlhaus”
The summer season for operetta has started, and various festivals are about to open. Coming up in Baden, near Vienna,
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Zsolt Vadász: “Land des Lächelns” in St. Petersburg And Tassilo In Munich
Every country, and every generation for that matter, has its “no. 1” tenor. In Germany, back in the 1920s and
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“Männe, hak’ mir mal die Taille auf!”: Erotic Cabaret Songs
The art of the suggestive song is not restricted to any particular historic era; it is, however, limited to a
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Andreas Homoki Will Stage “Das Land des Lächelns” With Piotr Beczala In Zurich
What the Opera House Zurich and the Komische Oper Berlin have in common are their architects: both were built by
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